1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to inventory control systems, and particularly to inventory control systems of the type wherein the inventory consists of products dispensed from containers. Most particularly, the invention pertains to an inventory control system for alcoholic beverages dispensed from bottles intended for use in bars, restaurants, entertainment clubs and the like.
2. Prior Art
The sale of alcoholic beverages at bars in restaurants, taverns, entertainment establishments and the like yields hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. Typically, the alcoholic beverages are in bottles displayed in at the back of the bar, with drinks being dispensed directly from the bottles, usually by the ounce, the price per ounce varying depending upon the type and brand of alcoholic beverage being dispensed. Payment for the drinks is usually received by the bartender directly from the customer, waiter or waitress in the form of cash.
A restaurant or tavern may employ one or more bartenders who collectively dispense hundreds of drinks containing alcoholic beverages and who collect cash receipts totalling hundreds of dollars. In a typical establishment, business is continuous, proceeding without interruption even during changes in bartenders. In such establishments, the opportunities for theft are many. If, for example, a bartender pours a drink and retains the cash payment therefor without recording the drink on the register, the theft is difficult to detect. Even if the proprietor eventually realizes that the cash receipts do not match the alcoholic beverages dispensed, such as would be apparent from a shortage in inventory vis-a-vis cash receipts, the proprietor may be unable to identify the offending bartender, as it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the shift during which the theft occurred. Consequently, bartenders or other personnel responsible for these shortages often go undetected until the proprietor has been deprived of large sums of money and/or inventory. Cash receipts are also lost when a patron brings his own bottle into an establishment without protest from the bartender. It is estimated that these losses collectively amount to many millions of dollars each year.
Another problem for establishments dispensing alcoholic beverages is maintaining sufficient inventory. Typically, as noted above, the alcoholic beverages at the bar are in bottles displayed at the back of the bar Depending upon the popularity of the beverage, one or several bottles may be displayed. In addition, full bottles must be maintained at a separate inventory site in the establishment for replacing the bottles at the bar as they are depleted. Accordingly, it is important for the proprietor to maintain an accurate inventory for each different type and brand of alcoholic beverage to avoid an unintentional depletion of stock.
Some of the prior art approaches for reducing bar theft, and their drawbacks, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,724 which itself is directed to such an apparatus. The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,724 includes a plurality of weight sensing mechanisms, one disposed beneath each of the several bottles of alcoholic beverages displayed at the bar. The output from each weight sensing mechanism is communicated to a computer, which senses the weight of the bottle on each respective mechanism at two different time intervals, e.g. at the beginning and at the end of a particular bartender's shift. The difference in weight at the beginning and at the end of the shift indicates the quantity of alcoholic beverage dispensed from the bottle placed on that mechanism, which can then be translated to expected cash receipts from that bottle for that shift.
A major drawback of the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,724 is that it assumes that the same bottle will always be placed on the same weight sensing mechanism. Unfortunately, this is not a valid assumption. In a busy bar, several bottles may be temporarily removed form their weight sensing mechanism simultaneously as alcoholic beverages are dispensed. If these bottles are then placed back on different weight sensing mechanisms, the system described in the patent is rendered essentially useless. More to the point, a dishonest bartender could defeat the system by intentionally moving the bottles from one weight sensing mechanism to another.
An inventory control system for alcoholic beverages is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,739. This system includes a hand-carried portable unit having a weight sensing mechanism and a bar code reading wand for reading a bar code affixed to each bottle, each code being unique to the brand and bottle size to which it is affixed. Consequently, this system can both determine the weight of the bottle placed on the weight sensing mechanism and, by reading the bar code, identify the type of alcoholic beverage contained in the bottle. While this system may prove useful for inventory tracking, it is too labor intensive for use in monitoring expected cash receipts, as it requires each bottle behind the bar to be placed on the scale at the end of each shift--a time consuming process. Also, it is not seen how this system can distinguish between several bottles of the same brand and bottle size. Furthermore, use of the system described in this patent requires the bar code reading want to be scanned across the bar code on the bottle at a substantially uniform rate to insure that the bar code is properly read, thereby introducing a human error factor. Still further, such system is not automatic.
As will be apparent from the foregoing, the prior art does not teach an effective inventory control system for alcoholic beverages which is suitable for monitoring stock and expected cash receipt with minimum human intervention.